[7] The Astros swept the Mariners and advanced to the American League Championship Series for the sixth consecutive season.

Alex Bregman hit a two-run shot in the bottom of the eighth to bring it within two and set up the dramatic events of the ninth inning.

Mariners reliever Paul Sewald hit David Hensley with a pitch and allowed a Jeremy Pena single while only getting two outs before Robbie Ray, who had started the clinching Game 2 of the Wild Card Series against Toronto, was brought on in relief to face Yordan Alvarez.

[21] Alvarez went 3-for-5 and drove in five runs and made important contributions on defense—MLB.com analyst Mike Petriello argued this was the greatest performance in playoff history by a position player.

[22] As it happened two days earlier, Seattle tried to hold on to a lead late in the game before Yordan Alvarez came up to the plate to crush those plans.

A couple of pitches later, Alvarez lined a towering shot into left field off of Luis Castillo to give the Astros a 3–2 lead.

The two teams did not score for 17 innings, becoming the longest scoreless postseason game in Major League history, surpassing the record of 14 scoreless innings in the 2022 American League Wild Card Series Game 2 between the Cleveland Guardians and the Tampa Bay Rays a week earlier.

Luis García hurled five scoreless innings of relief to earn the victory in a game that lasted six hours and 22 minutes.

[27] In the bottom of the third, the Yankees struck back as Harrison Bader hit a solo shot to left to tie the game.

The next batter Anthony Rizzo hit a two-run home run scoring Judge from third to extend the Yankees lead to 4–1.

Giancarlo Stanton got the scoring started early with a two-run home run to the short porch in right field in the first inning.

Harrison Bader padded the Yankees lead with a solo shot in the seventh and Wandy Peralta came in to try and finish the game off with a seven-out save.

Josh Naylor cut the deficit to one with a solo homer in the fourth and, while rounding the bases, stared down Cole while performing a baby rocking motion that drew the ire of opposing fans and the media.

Giancarlo Stanton tacked on an insurance run in the sixth with a sacrifice fly and the Yankees bullpen finished the game with two scoreless innings to tie the series at 2–2 and force it back to New York.

[30] The Yankees tasked Nestor Cortés Jr. to help them advance to the ALCS while, in a controversial move, Terry Francona elected to start Aaron Civale over Game 2 starter Shane Bieber.

The move immediately backfired as Giancarlo Stanton hit a three-run home run in the first inning and chased Civale after only getting one out.

Anthony Rizzo would pad the lead with an RBI single in the fifth and the Yankees bullpen sealed the game and the series with four scoreless innings, advancing to the ALCS for the first time since 2019.

Due to the compressed schedule from the rain delays in the series, the Yankees held a quick post-game celebration before flying to Houston for Game 1 of the ALCS the following day.